Jad Hakiki is Sligo Rovers’ only concern ahead of Sunday’s rearranged Premier Division clash with St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park, kick-off 6pm.
Hakiki was withdrawn at half-time having suffered a pull to his hamstring during last Saturday’s defeat to Shelbourne at the Showgrounds and faces a fitness test ahead of this weekend’s visit to Inchicore.
Rovers boss John Russell will have goalkeeper Sam Sargeant available to him after the shot-stopper’s red card against Shels was overturned by the independent appeals committee.
There was further good news regarding the net minder this week with Sargeant agreeing to extend his current deal beyond this season and to the end of 2026.
This game was initially due to take place on Friday, August 8th but was rescheduled due to Pat’s involvement in European competition both this and next week.
Stephen Kenny’s side have had the better of the previous two meetings between Rovers and the Dubliners this year, with the Saints narrowly defeating Rovers in both games in March and May.
Rovers will be looking to return to form following that defeat to Shels last week and manager Russell wants to ensure the defeat is well forgotten about come Sunday night.
“We were hugely disappointed coming away from last weekend’s game”, the Rovers boss tells sligorovers.com.
“There was nothing between the sides but Shels took their chances and that was the difference. We created two really good opportunities but didn’t take them and if you do that at this level, then you’ll always give the opposition a chance and the same goes for Sunday.
“I feel our games with Pat’s this season, they’ve been really tight. We’ve lost to them by one goal in both games, 4-3 and 1-0 and on other nights, we win those games and that’s how tight games in this league are.
“They had a tough time in the first half against Besitkas on Thursday, but improved a lot in the second half and they’ll look to bring that momentum into Sunday’s game. But we have our own plans. We are in good form at the moment and we’re looking to prove that the Shels result was just a blip.
“We’re hopeful for Jad, but we’ll see how he gets on. He’ll be assessed over Saturday and into Sunday morning and we’ll see how he gets on.
“We’re still looking at the teams above us. Galway play just before us on Sunday and we know we can go level with them depending on results so that’s a huge carrot for us to chase. While Waterford are still within our reach and Cork picked up two great recently so it’s far from settled.”
David Goulden